Athlon X4 845 Support

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   I came here to ask the same exact question.  I have (2) FM2A88X-ITX+ boards in mini/slim HTPC systems in my house. I'm looking to upgrade one of them from an A8-7600 to the X4 845 to couple it with a GTX 750 Ti, but am unsure if this board will support the X4 845. ASRock being slow with BIOS updates here is costing AMD a sale for now.

In my investigation into this issue I found the following thread useful:http://www.overclock.net/t/1593341/athlon-x4-845-carrizo

On page 3, user "looncraz" reports that he upgraded his ASRock FM2A88M-Extreme4+ to BIOS 2.90 (2/19/16) which apparently includes (unofficial?) Carrizo support.

The "CPU Support List" page for the FM2A88M-Extreme4+ (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88M%20Extreme4+/?cat=CPU) does *not* specifically show the Carrizo / X4 845 listed anywhere under family, model, or core. In other words, it looks like they "slipped" X4 845 support into the 2.90 BIOS without specifically showing it in the compatibility list for some reason. The 7860K is listed, but not the X4 845.

What this makes me think is it's *possible* that unofficial X4 845 support might be included on other ASRock mobos as long as they've had a recent BIOS update which shows official 7860K support. One caveat to this is that the 7860K is Godavari (Kaveri Refresh), so the Excavator based X4 845 no doubt uses slightly different microcode. Just because a board can use the 7860K does not necessarily mean it can run the X4 845 correctly (my guess is it may work but without official support the power gating could be wrong which might make the X4 845 run hot or too slow).

Of course, ASRock could clarify this situation by simply releasing BIOS updates which include official X4 845 support. I get the sense that a lot of people like us would like to upgrade for fun and/or to do some benchmark testing.

Having said all that, I'm considering ordering the X4 845 as soon as Amazon has them in stock so I can try one out on my mobo. One of the nice things about Amazon Prime is I can return any purchase at no cost. Newegg.com has the X4 845 in stock for a nice price ($64.99), but in my experience they're more difficult to deal with when it comes to returns. 

So, it looks like I'll be waiting a little while longer until Amazon gets them in stock and/or we get an answer from ASRock about BIOS updates.

Edited by mjsw00sh - 12 Mar 2016 at 2:11am

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mjsw00sh Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 2016 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote mjsw00sh Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Athlon X4 845 Support Posted: 12 Mar 2016 at 1:41am
	I came here to ask the same exact question. I have (2) FM2A88X-ITX+ boards in mini/slim HTPC systems in my house. I'm looking to upgrade one of them from an A8-7600 to the X4 845 to couple it with a GTX 750 Ti, but am unsure if this board will support the X4 845. ASRock being slow with BIOS updates here is costing AMD a sale for now. In my investigation into this issue I found the following thread useful: http://www.overclock.net/t/1593341/athlon-x4-845-carrizo On page 3, user "looncraz" reports that he upgraded his ASRock FM2A88M-Extreme4+ to BIOS 2.90 (2/19/16) which apparently includes (unofficial?) Carrizo support. The "CPU Support List" page for the FM2A88M-Extreme4+ (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88M%20Extreme4+/?cat=CPU) does not specifically show the Carrizo / X4 845 listed anywhere under family, model, or core. In other words, it looks like they "slipped" X4 845 support into the 2.90 BIOS without specifically showing it in the compatibility list for some reason. The 7860K is listed, but not the X4 845. What this makes me think is it's possible that unofficial X4 845 support might be included on other ASRock mobos as long as they've had a recent BIOS update which shows official 7860K support. One caveat to this is that the 7860K is Godavari (Kaveri Refresh), so the Excavator based X4 845 no doubt uses slightly different microcode. Just because a board can use the 7860K does not necessarily mean it can run the X4 845 correctly (my guess is it may work but without official support the power gating could be wrong which might make the X4 845 run hot or too slow). Of course, ASRock could clarify this situation by simply releasing BIOS updates which include official X4 845 support. I get the sense that a lot of people like us would like to upgrade for fun and/or to do some benchmark testing. Having said all that, I'm considering ordering the X4 845 as soon as Amazon has them in stock so I can try one out on my mobo. One of the nice things about Amazon Prime is I can return any purchase at no cost. Newegg.com has the X4 845 in stock for a nice price ($64.99), but in my experience they're more difficult to deal with when it comes to returns. So, it looks like I'll be waiting a little while longer until Amazon gets them in stock and/or we get an answer from ASRock about BIOS updates. Edited by mjsw00sh - 12 Mar 2016 at 2:11am

hailstorm Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Mar 2016 Location: Bristol, UK Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote hailstorm Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 Mar 2016 at 7:33pm
	Any plans for supporting the Athlon X4 845? http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-Athlon%20X4%20845.html It's the new Excavator based FM2 chip. Not seeing it on any of the CPU compatibility charts.